Chapter 687

The Lord of Ten Thousand Gold City took the lead.

The place they arrived at was a spacious armory.

Inside hung all kinds of weapons, as well as shields and various pieces of armor.

Standing before them, the Lord of Ten Thousand Gold City asked.

"What do you think is the core of the Blacksmith Style?"

Su-ho thought for a moment before answering.

"I think it's harvesting."

"Why?"

"You said it yourself, Elder. The Blacksmith Style finds answers in enemies and the environment to solve problems. Then wouldn't the beginning of that process be harvesting the materials needed to solve those problems from the enemy and the environment?"

A smile appeared on the Lord of Ten Thousand Gold City's lips.

"Correct. In that sense, you have no need to go to the forge. The materials are here, and you already have everything required for the work. So from now on, I'll show you the ultimate techniques of the Blacksmith Style that you should be aiming for."

The Lord of Ten Thousand Gold City walked into the armory.

He stopped in front of a fairly large shield, picked it up, and tossed it to Su-ho.

"Check it."

Su-ho checked its information.

The shield was called the Black Iron Shield, an extremely heavy and durable kite shield made with a mixture of high-purity black iron.

"Looks sturdy, doesn't it?"

"Yes. It looks like it wouldn't budge even if a golem came and struck it."

"Hold it just like that."

Su-ho did as instructed.

An ordinary person would have struggled to lift it even with both hands, but Su-ho was no ordinary person, so he held it easily.

Still, because of its weight and size, it looked slightly difficult to handle one-handed as casually as a dagger.

Then the Lord of Ten Thousand Gold City reached into the air.

A long two-handed hammer was summoned into his grasp.

It was what people commonly called a sledgehammer at construction sites.

"First, I'll show you the power your hammer will possess once it is fully released."

He gripped the two-handed hammer with both hands and swung it lightly, putting his waist into the motion.

Then, the instant the hammer touched the shield.

KABOOM!

A tremendous roar.

At the same time, the shield shattered into pieces, fragments scattering in every direction.

One strike.

And with nothing more than that single strike, the enormous Black Iron Shield had been shattered without a trace.

That wasn't the only astonishing part.

There had been no impact.

More precisely, not a single bit of impact had been transmitted to Su-ho, who had been holding the shield.

'Is that physically possible?'

It was.

He had just experienced it himself.

Seeing Su-ho's stunned expression, the Lord of Ten Thousand Gold City laughed.

"Interesting, isn't it?"

"Yes. Very."

"This is one of the ultimate techniques of the Blacksmith Style—the Art of Dismantling. Once you comprehend the ultimate level of the Art of Dismantling, you can completely dismantle only the target you intend to strike."

"With a single blow?"

"Naturally, it becomes possible with a single blow. No, unless you can achieve it in one strike, it can't really be called an ultimate technique. But to achieve complete dismantling with one strike, Smith's Eye must also reach its ultimate level. Only then can you find the perfect dismantling point. I call it the dismantling point, or the central point. Everything in the world has a center, and if you touch that center, everything being held together by it will collapse all at once."

"The central point......."

Complete dismantling.

It was an incredibly appealing power.

What if he could use it on an enemy?

Just as that thought crossed his mind—

"Haha, I know what you're thinking, but unfortunately, it's a technique that doesn't work on living beings. Things that live and breathe aren't held together entirely through a single central point."

"Ah...... That's a little disappointing."

"Heh. But once a living creature is no longer a living creature, complete dismantling becomes possible. On that note, shall we take a look at the Black Iron Shield I just dismantled?"

The scattered fragments.

When the Lord of Ten Thousand Gold City extended his hand, one of the scattered pieces floated up on its own and snapped into his palm.

Interesting.

Was he using telekinesis?

Holding out the piece that had come into his hand, he said,

"It's not telekinesis. Once you reach this level of mastery, the materials come to us on their own."

"I see."

"Check its information."

Is my expression really that obvious?

Hyman was the same. Everyone seems to read me so easily.

At his suggestion, Su-ho checked the information.

[ Central Point of the Black Iron Shield Made in Ten Thousand Gold City ]

Grade : S# The central point of a Black Iron Shield crafted in Ten Thousand Gold City.

# Without the central point, no matter how many material fragments there are, it cannot be restored to its original form.

# However, when the central point exists, its appearance and configuration options will vary depending on the material fragments used in its composition.

# The Central Point of the Black Iron Shield Made in Ten Thousand Gold City can only be filled with material fragments harvested through the Blacksmith Style's Art of Dismantling and requires the Blacksmith Style's Art of Assembly.

# The minimum assembly requirement is 50 material fragments excluding the central point, while the maximum composition requirement is 250.

# Current number of assembled material fragments: 0/250.

Su-ho slowly read through the item's information.

But something about it felt strangely familiar.

He searched his memory.

Then an item with a similar description suddenly came to mind, and he rummaged through his inventory.

Found it.

He immediately checked its information.

[ Mega Crusher's Shield Frame ]

Grade : S-# A crystallized item extracted by the Mega Crusher.

# The crystal's attribute is an item frame.

# The Shield Frame creates a new shield through the combination of material fragments.

# The options of the shield created will vary depending on the material fragments used in its composition.

# The Shield Frame can only be filled with material fragments produced by the Mega Crusher.

# The minimum composition requirement is 100 material fragments, and equipped material fragments can be dismantled at any time.

# Current number of equipped material fragments: 0/100.

The item he had remembered and found was none other than the Mega Crusher's Shield Frame.

The central point and the item frame.

They were similar, yet different.

At that moment, the Lord of Ten Thousand Gold City saw the Shield Frame in Su-ho's hand and spoke.

"You've got something interesting there."

"Do you know what this is?"

"Of course I do. Isn't that High Technology?"

It had been a long time since Su-ho had heard the term High Technology.

There were several different types in the Technology series.

Lost Technology of ancient civilizations.

High Technology of otherworldly civilizations.

Over Technology of mythological civilizations.

And the unofficial "Fusion Technology," created by combining them.

Four types in total.

'The Soul Suit I gave Geon was Fusion Technology.'

In that sense, since the Mega Crusher came from an otherworldly civilization, it was High Technology.

Pi Seong-yeol currently possessed the Mega Crusher.

He was probably still grinding cursed items somewhere inside a subspace.

'Come to think of it, didn't the Mega Crusher Pi Seong-yeol has also have some kind of quest?'

Su-ho searched his memory.

The Mega Crusher's information came to mind.

[ Mega Crusher ]

Grade : S# Exceptional technology from another world.

# It can grind down any item, and through more delicate dismantling techniques, it has gained the ability to additionally extract the materials and options contained within items.

# Every time the host of the Mega Crusher dismantles an item, Dismantling EXP accumulates, and the accumulated Dismantling EXP makes the host stronger.

# A related quest will be unlocked after dismantling 781 more items.

There was one.

A related quest.

His brow furrowed.

Was it important?

Probably not.

No matter how important the Mega Crusher was, could it really compare to the Blacksmith Style?

Su-ho set the matter aside for the moment and continued answering.

"It's an item I obtained through a power I acquired some time ago."

"The Mega Crusher, right?"

"Yes, that's correct. As expected, you know about it."

"Of course. You can assume that I know about most of the items that exist under the System. In that case, how far have you released the Mega Crusher?"

"The item itself is S grade, and if I remember correctly, one of its quests should probably be unlocked by now."

"You're not wearing it yourself, are you?"

"Of course not. I'm using it to punish someone who committed crimes."

"Haha, that's a good idea. Then again, some High Technologies draw out their power by grinding down their users. The Mega Crusher is a prime example."

"But I don't really plan to pay much attention to it. Surely it can't compare to the Blacksmith Style."

Natural social skills.

The Lord of Ten Thousand Gold City seemed pleased as well, smiling contentedly.

But what he said next was unexpected.

"I'm very grateful you say that...... but no matter how exceptional the Blacksmith Style is, there is one thing it does worse than the Mega Crusher."

"Something it does worse?"

"Stat fragments. That's the one advantage the Mega Crusher has over the Blacksmith Style."

"Ah!"

The moment he heard "stat fragments," Su-ho's mouth fell open.

Right.

Stat fragments.

Why had I forgotten about those?

He recalled the information on the last stat fragment he had absorbed.

[ Mega Crusher's Colorless Stat Fragment ]

Grade : A# A crystallized item filtered out by the Mega Crusher.

# The crystal's attribute is Colorless Stat.

# When consumed, Colorless Stat increases one stat of your choice by 1.

A Colorless Stat Fragment produced after going through several different processes.

An absurdly powerful option that guaranteed an increase of one stat of his choice.

Now that his level growth had stopped, nearly every method of gaining stats had been blocked off unless he accomplished some major achievement.

Seen in that light, the Mega Crusher was an entirely unexpected blessing.

'Right. Why did I forget about this.......'

Rediscovering it in such an unexpected place left him genuinely dumbfounded.

Seeing Su-ho's expression, the Lord of Ten Thousand Gold City laughed.

"Judging by your face, you must have forgotten."

"Ah, yes...... I've had so many things to do that it completely slipped my mind."

"Hmm. Since I'm the one who invited you here because of the Blacksmith Style, perhaps I'm not the person who should be saying this, but if the Mega Crusher is already S grade and its unlocking condition has been met, I'd recommend clearing that quest eventually and truly releasing the Mega Crusher. The Mega Crusher's true power lies in its stat fragments."

"I definitely will. I hadn't been thinking about it at all, so thank you for bringing it back to my attention."

"No need to thank me. I'm one of the people who wants you to become stronger more than anyone else, so it's only natural. Still, saying all this makes the Mega Crusher sound a little better than the Blacksmith Style, so shall I brag about the Blacksmith Style a bit?"

"Ah, yes, of course."

"There are a few things the Blacksmith Style can do that the Mega Crusher cannot. First, something like this."

After saying that, the Lord of Ten Thousand Gold City summoned a sword from thin air and, without hesitation, sliced through his own hand.

SPLURT!

Blood sprayed.

And his severed hand flew through the air.

At the same time, Su-ho's eyes widened.

"Huh?"